HEY MAN, I really need your help...

...the thing is, I need you to start progressing faster then ever, but to achieve that I need your help:

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I followed your advise and singed along to the phrasing track as it was playing through my speakers. A few times I was trying to sing it while I was playing. Here, after soooooo many takes, I have uploaded 2 more samples regarding my phrasing practice. In one of the videos I play with headphones on for timing reference and the other video is played completely out of mind.I think that my notion of time is completely subjective, especially with notes of longer durations, but this is as good as I can be up to now.Let me know if I need to do something extra to better this.

Hi Aris, good job! Both timing and notes length are getting closer to the original lesson. There are off course some differences here and there but you are on the right track. The "metronome" version has pitch issues that seem to be related to the tuning of your guitar.

Another thing that I note is that you should improve your vibrato technique. It's not consistent, and regular. It's weak yet. I recommend you to check out this lesson:

Apparently, my guitar is going out of tune until I play one descent version...I have to tune more regularly!I will follow your advice and send in a new version.

Here I have attached some more stuff from my practice:

- rhythm over drum loop and a closer tone to the lesson.(I 'm sorry, after the take I realized the baking drums change in different places than guitar riff/solo changes and it sounds bad at some point(especially in the end)....I will short it out next time since I will need to play a 100 more takes to get it right again )

- alternate picking up to part 5. (2 more parts to Go!) - 200 bpm

- picking arpeggios parts 2 to 3. (I am really straggling with the chords in parts 4,5 and 8 as I cannot stretch my pinky enough to the note in string D - especially in part 5 where frets are further apart).

Since it took me the whole evening for the above parts, I didn't have any time for the improvisation routine.I hope I can move faster in the future since I frequently have to ditch one of the practice sections just to see some notable progress in another.I 'm planning to put some extra weight on the improvisation (week1) tonight.

You are following the groove right in the section from 00:00 to 00:34, however there is still room to go tighter with the backing track. Then, when the melody starts at 00:35, the timing issue becomes more important, the melody is not going with the groove of the track there. The problem is exactly what you said, the notes don't go exactly with the hits of the drum, you have to be able to singe the melody over the groove, to understand it and then transpose it to guitar. That's what I recommend you to do to master it.

The palm muting section sounds better but you have to improve the connection with the previous part to make it sound smoother. It takes you a measure to find the new groove after the melodies. Finally, the last strumming, at 01:05 is not going with the drum loop, work on it.

- Alternate Picking:

I can notice that this lesson is improving compared with the previous takes. Try to make that your right hand moves more relaxed, let the wrist move a bit floppier. The part starting at 00:33 has some different notes, please re-check the original lesson.

Another important thing is to economize movements when you practice. I notice that your left hand fingers get out of the fret board and separate too much and that's not necessary. It's good to get used to keep the fingers closer to the fret boar to economize movements. The smaller the moments are, the easier will be to play the things faster in the near future.

- Picking arpeggios:

Good job with this one! You are starting to feel more comfortable with the chords positions and your AP technique is being more precise for arpeggios. Your playing is tight now, and the next goal should be to make the overall thing sound smoother. The notes are cut too early, try to make them last a bit more.

The last few days I tried to focus mainly on improvisation course as I feel it is progressing very slowly.

I send here my own backing track with very simple drums and major chords (G,D,C,D) playing 4 bars per chord to have more time playing with each arpeggio/scale while still playing over the same chord. Any suggestions on improving the backing track will be most welcome.(I know I need to polish the rhythm quitar in the backing track but I was mainly focused on the lead guitar )

I have two main concerns about my improvisation skills at this stage:

- When changing the scale for playing over the next chord, it does not feel like the new melodic part is the continuation of the previous. It just sounds like I am restarting an exercise over a different scale. You can see what I mean in the attached recording. (P.S. You will also hear timing issues as sometimes I'm not sure when exactly the chord changes)

- I also tried playing over the original backing track (from week 1 notes) and I cannot switch from one scale to another when chords change so rapidly (e.g. 1 bar per chord).

It's a great desicion to also create your own backing track for this workout, it makes the practice even more effective. About the backing, I'm not convinced about the drum loop. It sounds weird, too many snares, and I can't hear any hi-hat or ride, is there? I feel that the drum groove could evolve similar to this song:

What do you think?

And regarding your playing. You said exactly what's happening! You are playing this as an exercise and every time the chord changes, it seems like a new exercise. It's time to try to create phrases that interact, that are connected with each other, to give your jamming a direction, and evolution.

Listen to that track by Joe Satriani and analyze how his uses has the concept of call and response. How?

- Create shorter phrases that are related rhythmically and melodically.- Use silence between phrases.

- Use your voice to create melodies and then transpose them to guitar. Analyze if this melodies are around the arpeggios of each chord and let me know.

Your soloing is sounding like and exercise because you keep the same rhythm all the time and it makes it sound more like a technical practice, use more rhythm variations, silence and other expression tools.

You are right about the drum loop. There is no hi-hat or rides. I will try to make the groove closer to "Los redondos". It will sound much better then.

I think I know what you mean about my improvisation issues. Thank you for all the tips. It helps a lot more that you gave me examples as well.I will try with your suggestions and include some of the below observations. I expect that my improvisation will sound better then. Perhaps, I should start with your other suggestion, trying to transpose some melodies from voice to the guitar and imagine how I would like the melody to evolve before I start playing it.Again, you gave me a lot of useful tips. Connecting 2-3 of these together should change the scene surely. I should have something to send you soon.

Below I have tried to make a first analysis of Satriani's - the extremist where I think it uses the following:

--Yes!!! I see a lot of different rhythm patterns played and he uses pauses (even very short ones) at the end of most phrases

I also tried to do some non-technical decoding in questions and answers:

- He usually repeats the questions giving different responses each time- Adjacent Questions have small rhythm/melodic variations. Similarly for responses- Responses may also be small variations of the questions- Sometimes questions will ascend the scale and responses descend or the opposite- Other times questions will be mainly based on longer duration notes (half and quarter notes) and responses on shorter duration notes like eighths or sixteenths or the opposite-a question may also be a repeating phrase. After it is played repeatedly, a response will follow.- responses can also be formed by repeating phrases- questions and responses can be short phrases or longer phrases (longer phrases have a feeling like going downhill then climbing up and start to roll with speed again)-often responses are played in higher octave or lower octave than questions

You not only took my suggestions, you take them farther doing a very precise analysis of Satriani's approach to phrases. Your analysis is very rich and I have to say that I've also learnt from it. Now it's time to start applying this concepts. An idea that comes to mind is to apply this concepts consciously at first, using your voice and transposing the melodies to guitar, and record each of the possibilities as different examples. I feel that it would be so cool so have it as reference and I think that it could be cool to share it at the forum for other students that will surely appreciate. What do you think?

It's good that you gave me an even more precise starting point. When I try to put it all together I get easily overwhelmed.I will follow your advice and send everything I will have. Let me know where exactly I should post it in the forum so that other students could see it too.

I hope you are doing well! I 'm a bit bumped that I had to miss last night's lesson for once again. I know I can watch it later but it's always better to chat on the spot.

I haven't written to you for almost a week now, but this is because I wanted to complete my task first so I have something to show you. During this time, I' m trying to record all the options according to my analysis and put them up in the practice room eventually.I seem to have some melodies down for a few of the analyzed points. They are not so exciting but if I try to be more choosy it may take me a month for something good.

Now I' m trying to make up some melodies that will include the two remaining points in my analysis so that the post is as complete as possible. However, I find it hard to make up really interesting melodies in the available time I have.

I also wanted to mention that I have been using the same backing track for all recorded possibilities and most of my recordings demonstrate more than one of the analyzed points. I hope I 'm doing the right thing.

I must admit that I 'm getting very concerned about my progress given the fact that making more time for playing is not easy. However, I ll try to stick with my plan playing one hour per day at a bare minimum and hope for the best.

I can feel that you have a very good attitude and energy regarding your practice and guitar playing. Your analysis is deep, and we have a very well organized plan here. Now it's just time to find the moment of your day when you can complete the diary tasks that are necessary to keep on improving and progressing.

I know that life is full of obligations and work to do, it's also difficult for me to find time to just enjoy guitar, even being a full time musician! I dedicate my life to my band, giving music course (at GMC and at my studio) and producing music and bands. I'm all day with music but I even find tricky to just sit down and practice or play guitar. I have to organize myself really good to do all the things I want to do.

You are very motivated and that's a very important thing. Try to find the way to organize your life to be able to play guitar at least 1 hour every day, and if a day it's so busy, play at least 20/30 minutes. We always can sleep 20 minutes less...

But, even more important is to enjoy music and guitar. I must not be an obligation, something that you HAVE to do, it should be something that you want to do. If not, it doesn't make sense.

About the quality of the phrases, don't worry about it, we are at learning and analyzing stage.

I am so glad to talk to you again. I am sure you are spending your time creatively (as I can also see from your numerous posts) and I can tell you are having fun with it also.

I just uploaded some examples in the practice room on question/response analysis.I think I have messed up with my routine though, since while I was trying to make time for the improvisation task I had very little practice with the rest stuff in my routine so I am afraid I have no notable progress in the rest since the last posts.

However, since I have managed to make the improvisation post that I was mostly worried about, I will be more careful with the normal routine from now on.

Hi mate! Nice to hear from you again! I just found the post so I will check it in a moment, but I can say that it's looking great! Congrats on that deep analysis. Be sure that this analysis and conclusions will have a big impact in your playing, improvisations and compositions. These are the type of works that are much more creative and inspiring than practicing lots of hours of technique. So don't worry about the lowering the routing practice this last week, you can get back now, but let me say that it's not a bad idea to give priority to more "creative" stuff every time it appears.

Also, working on the routine exercises in a creative way is something that I always recommend. Learning the lessons, but then also creating your own variations, and using the backings to improvise your own stuff using the scales and concepts suggested is definitely the way to go.

(I 'll try to see if I can get rid of this awful background noise from future recordings since I only realized it was there after I did them.)

* Alternate picking - I recorded over backing track #02 of the lesson. I see that I still need to improve on my timing for the melody in part 7 and general accuracy. I have also tried to keep my fingers closer to the fretboard but I'm not sure if I have improved on this since the last video.I will double check the lesson for adding the missing vibratos too.

* Warm up Arpeggios - This still sucks. Especially the 4th & 5th chords have a lot of accidental mutterings due to fingers not being able to reach. However, I feel much better since now I can almost stretch my fingers enough for these chords. So I am now thinking it will be possible with time whereas before I had very little faith I played this over backing track #04 of the lesson.

* Rhythm (SD Style lesson) - I played all of the lesson except for the last part (I did not realize at that time it would be easy to try until I saw the tab the next day:o ). Sorry about the tone. I completely forgot to check for similar settings. This was played over backing track #03 of the lesson

* I will have to redo the phrasing lesson. It is not as good as I thought it was.

BTW I liked Andy Timmons from the guitarists you proposed. At "Cry for you" the solo evolution seems so natural and goes over so many different moods. I hope this does not mean I 'm growing old seeking softer sounds It may be also that I was never too much into metal stuff except for some hardcore/punk.

I could notice that the thread about phrasing has been evolving and growing a lot and that's thanks to your great first analysis. Congratulations!! I think that Andy Timmons is a great one to continue with this analysis. He is very melodic and tasy, his tone is majestic as well as his feeling and vibrato but he can also shred that guitar when he want. A real master. Let's go for him!

About your takes, I can see that your playing is evolving, not very fast but it's going forward and that's the most important thing. The alternate picking lesson is the best one of the three. You can play most of the lesson with a good tempo and I think that one of the things to have in mind is the your muting technique to be sure that there are not unwanted noises while you play the different parts. Remember that when you are playing a lick, the notes that need to sound are as important as the ones that don't have to sound. This balance must be perfect. This is applicable to muting and also to silences when you are phrasing.

The picking arpeggios lesson is the one that evolved most, it's true that it's not tight, it has important timing issues in the second half but I can see that your fingers are getting used to those shapes and that your alternate picking is ok for this lesson. Remember to put your thumb (from your left hand) more in the middle of the other four fingers to make the stretches easier.

Finally the rhythm lesson is evolving well. The first rhythm section is ok, but you should liberated a bit more your right hand, relax it and let it move freely with the groove. The melody for the second part has important timing issues so please re-check the rhythm and practice it over the original lesson.

Ok mate, it's really cool to see you working hard and covering different aspects of your playing and musicality, just keep on the great job!

Thanks to your recommendation I think also that the thread is becoming very exciting. It is really inspiring to read/listen to a lot of ideas coming from many different guitarists about their own approaches.

It is also very encouraging to hear that you can see my playing has evolved even a tiny bit. I also understand your point on the recommended corrections and I 'm on it!

I 'm also practicing the phrases I have combined so that I will be able to send a decent recording at the improvisation thread.I have used some "pen & paper" using guitar pro to copy and transpose the phrases I like from "SD style lesson", "tasty etude" and "guitar loves piano" but I still need some getting used to it before I record it.

Would you like to see the tab I made or it will be a spoiler of the real thing? I should be able to send the recording tomorrow morning in the improvisation thread.